Freshman Year
by Tris Mia Potter
Summary: Harry is accepted into Hogwarts High, a luxurious boarding school accepting teenagers for the last four years of their secondary school education. Join Harry as he makes new friends, enemies, and -of course- ends up in trouble. MuggleAU, pairings open for suggestions, might be a bit OOC, previously known as Family Bound.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

_"Gather 'round everyone! Gather 'round!" Harry's PE teacher called out on Monday morning, before the first lesson of the day started. "Okay now, be silent, please!" He tried getting the attention of the group of teens, who were slowly starting to assemble. "Really, guys! Be quiet!"_

_The bespectacled boy was silently observing the situation with little interest. This was how it went practically every Monday morning._

_To anyone who paid attention it would seem after two days of absence from each other, everyone -especially the girls- desperately needed talk about every minute they hadn't spent together. Even mundane things like what they ate for breakfast came up._

_It was rather annoying sometimes, but since PE was first thing on Monday, Harry had no complaints._

_It's not that he detested sport, he actually loved it sometimes. It was just PE at school that he didn't like._

_Everybody picked him last when forming teams, nobody trusted the ball to him, most lessons he was passing the time at the sidelines. He was the invisible mute._

_Although it was better than primary school PE now Dudley was nowhere around, it didn't mean he minded a few wasted minutes._

_"Everybody! SHUT UP!" The teacher shouted loudly._

_At once, an attentive silence fell over the group._

_Just like any other Monday morning._

_Breathing slightly faster than normal the teacher, who was beginning to question his life choices, gestured to a wild looking man._

_The man was very tall, at least 2 metres, broad, and had a wild, brown beard which covered nearly his whole face. It gave a rather scary look to his features, making the group of pupils eye him wearily._

_"This," said the teacher "is Mr. Hagrid. A recruiter from Hogwarts High who will be testing any interested candidates this PE lesson."_

_Mr. Hagrid smiled, making his messy beard move. It was distracting. "As Mr. Smith said, I'm looking new pupils for Hogwarts High. Hogwarts High is a boarding school which teaches pupils for the last four years of their secondary education. We offer some of the best programs in the UK. There are left: Three open spaces for the PE program, five open spaces for the arts program and four open spaces for our advanced schooling program. Scholarships are offered to the best candidates for those open spaces. Anyone interested in the PE program is going to go through a physical test this period and anybody interested in any of the other programs should come to me at the end of this period." _

_By the time Mr. Hagrid was done with his little speech, most of the class wasn't listening anymore, instead choosing to continue reciting the weekend's proceedings._

_Harry wanted to be annoyed by their un-respectful behaviour, but instead he felt slightly envious. They were all happy where they were, at Stonewall High. Where they could go home to loving families every afternoon, hang out with friends all day._

_He wasn't the most social person in the pack, that he knew. Still, it would have been nice to have one person that looked him in the eye every day. Spoke at least one word to him when they saw him pass by in the hallway._

_So that's why he, unlike everyone else, was hanging on to every word he spoke from the moment the man had said "boarding school" and was filled with hope from the moment the word "scholarships" was said._

_Because to him, this was it. This was his chance to escape his relatives. This was the moment he'd been waiting for._

_"Okay everybody interested can follow Mr. Hagrid. For the rest of you: Warm-up." Mr. Smith decided to start the lesson._

_At the high screech of the whistle, which hurt everybody's ears when, the group spread out like a group of birds fleeing from an intruder._

_While most of the class started the warm-up, Harry followed the large man._

* * *

A/N: I have taken way too long in updating Family Bound, instead choosing to rewrite it because of various reasons. Right now I have written this story until chapter 15 which is in total 18k words, so I'm not planning on abandoning it any time soon.

So sorry for the late update! Better late than never right? *please don't punch me*

I'm open for any kind of reviews except for flamers. Helpful critisism is always welcome. I want to write this in British English so if anybody could correct me on those kind of mistakes I would be very gratefull as wel!

I'm not sure about the pairings for this story yet either, so let me know what you want.

XxXxX

Tris

P.s. I'll try to upload every Monday, except for the next one which will be on Saturday or Sunday since I'll be on vacation on Monday.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:I realise I forgot to do this in the first chapter ****_again, _****but Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling. I don't own any characters or names or anything else familiar. This goes for the whole story, since I'll probably forget to do this very often.**

* * *

**Arriving**

Harry felt the grin spread out on his face as he stood in front of the massive building, which was slowly filling with excited teenagers. He actually managed to get here. It was like a dream; too good to be true.

More than six months passed since that fateful PE lesson. Sixth months of doubt had gone by, in which he'd done nothing but waiting and hoping. Acting at his best in order for his uncle to pay the remaining money they had to pay, even with the scholarship to aid them.

There were times when he was sure his uncle would never let him. Those moments were horribly depressing. Sitting in his cramped cupboard, his cage. Feeling like he was a prisoner in his own house, his own room and body.

He consciously pushed aside those memories to never be viewed again. Thinking about those things would do him no good. He was there, and that was all that mattered.

Focusing on the scene in front of him, he noticed the building had a distinct old structure with an architecture that he never had the chance to admire before. With two large doors as the main entrance, and windows similar to those of a church, giving it a little bit the feeling of a castle. It baffled him that they would make this building into a school.

The outer grounds of the school were just as brilliant as the school. A long running track that appeared to imprison the school was what Harry first noticed. He also saw various sport fields surrounding the school. He even saw an outdoor stage and a few, what appeared to be, graffiti areas. And that was only the part of the grounds he could see.

The area between the front of the school and the gates was the busiest, with teenagers and parents being escorted into the school by teachers and prefects. He saw a few pupils in their uniforms already on the other parts of the school grounds. Some were catching up, others playing a variety of competitive sports or jamming in groups. Most often did he see guitars and ukuleles in case of the latter, but there were a few oddities; a mahogany violin, played by a skilled upper year wearing a yellow, black tie captured the most attention. The music echoed a bit to the front of the school creating a welcoming atmosphere.

It all looked so luxurious and expensive. He felt out of place and like coming home at the same time. A really strange sensation in his opinion.

A small body bumped into him, making him halt his observations. Turning around he saw a bushy brown haired girl with wide chocolate brown eyes and braces. A blush steadily creeping onto her face.

"I'm so sorry." She started while picking up the books she dropped when colliding into him. "I wasn't really looking where I was going; I was trying to catch up to my parents -who are probably already inside- before I had to try and find my dorm on my own since I feel really awkward asking a teacher, because I just feel really insecure when I'm in a new setting. My parents probably think I already went there since I went ahead of them but this boy named Neville lost his frog so I was helping him find it." She quickly rambled without even once taking a breath.

Harry didn't know how to respond. Honestly, how could one person talk so much and so fast? How was he _supposed_ to react to that? Should he help her look for her parents? No, that meant more conversation in which he'll undoubtedly screw things up. _What should I do? _He thought desperately.

He realised he was taking too long in forming an answer, because she started rambling once again. "Sorry, I get way too talkative when I'm nervous and social settings always make me nervous which means I start dreading them even more and then I start talking more and it just starts becoming a never ending cycle. Anyways I'm sorry, I'll..."

"No it's okay, I was standing in the way too so, my bad. And I'm not the best in social settings either." He tried awkwardly, rubbing his neck.

It seemed to be the right thing to say as the girl responded with a warm smile. "Thanks. My name's Hermione Granger by the way." He shook her hand that was free of books. "And you are?"

"I'm Harry Potter." A flicker of... something that looked oddly like recognition passed across her face. Before he could wonder about it, she said "I really ought to catch up to my parents now, but I'll see you around, Harry." and marched away.

Shaking his head confused but also a bit amused, he passed through the gates of the school. He expected something to pass through him when he crossed that invisible barrier. Perhaps a wave of happiness or a tingling of nervousness in his fingers. Nothing seemed to change. Everything he felt now was there before, mostly consisting of hope and excitement.

Shaking aside his silly expectations, he looked a bit at his surroundings in further detail, hoping a teacher would approach him instead of him having to take the initiative.

He saw a large family of red heads pass by, the mother fussing non-stop about one of her sons - who Harry assumed would be attending for the first time, like him.

"Ron, don't forget to call or Skype me every day. Fred and George, try not to give him a hard time. Take good care of him and stay out of trouble for once. If you step one toe out of line I am taking you both straight home! Now Ron, if you feel homesick just call, even if it's in the middle of the night okay? I'm going to miss you so much..." The woman kept talking to her children, who all actually seemed to be annoyed by her behaviour.

Harry looked away when he felt envy bubble up to the surface.

Eventually a strict looking teacher approached him. "Hello, I'm Mrs. McGonagall. What's your name?"

"Potter, Harry Potter."

"Is a guardian or parent accompanying you?"

"No, they had to bring my cousin to his boarding school." He lied.

The teacher nodded and looked through a few papers before motioning for him to follow. At the reception she retrieved a stack of papers and handed them over to Harry.

"This will contain all the information you will probably need. If you have any other questions you can ask anybody."

He scanned the first page which seemed to be basic information about him - like his name, address, age and house.

"I'll escort you to the Gryffindor dorms and then I'll leave you to settle in." She said, already having seen the last bit of information.

o0o0o0o0o0o

Once at the dorm he politely thanked the teacher. With a deep breath he opened the door and slipped inside. Three heads immediately snapped up to take a look at their new dorm mate. He saw the boy of the redhead family was in the middle of unpacking and a brown haired boy drawing in a sketchpad, already in uniform and unpacked. The last boy was also in uniform and unpacked but didn't really appear to be doing anything.

The boy introduced himself as "Seamus Finnigan." with an Irish accent. The other two boys introduced themselves as Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom.

"I'm Harry Potter." He introduced himself for the third time that day. Again he thought he saw that little flicker of recognition cross their features. He frowned in confusion. Why would they know who he was? Nobody knew him.

It was probably his imagination trying to make him feel more important than he actually was.

Right when he dropped his trunk on his bed another boy came in, energetically introducing himself as Dean Thomas, before starting to unpack like Harry and Ron.

"So is everybody excited for the school year?" Dean tried making conversation after a few moments of uncomfortable silence.

Fortunately, it worked, and the five boys started getting to know each other.

* * *

**A/N: WOOP I'M UPLOADING ON TIME :D What did you think of it?**

**Thanks for the two reviews! I really appreciate it! I'll keep everyone's opinions in mind but I don't know if all of them are going to work yet.**

**Next upload will be on Monday the 1st of September and will be titled: Soccer and Sorting. Please, no comments about my crappy titles :P**

**XXX**

**TRIS**


	3. Chapter 3

**Soccer and Sorting**

"Is someone up for a football game?" Dean added to the conversation while sticking yet another one of his (too many) football posters to his side of the dorm room's wall.

"Football fan much?" Ron said teasingly.

"Ha-ha. Is that a yes or a no?"

"I'm up for a game." Seamus agreed.

After Seamus the rest of the dorm was quick to follow in agreement and together they made their way outside to one of the football fields where a group of pupils were already playing. On the way there, when Harry passed the corner of the school which obscured a part of the school grounds, it was revealed to him how large they actually were.

They stretched all the way to a giant forest in the distance where -he heard Neville tell Dean- the school's cross-country tracks were hidden.

Again he saw what he had before entering the school: Stages, graffiti areas and sport fields. Now he saw a swimming pool, even more and different sports fields, a trampoline and even a climbing wall.

Looking in closer detail, Harry saw that the weren't completely covered in these kind of areas like he first thought. Great chunks of plain, green grass filled up the rest of the school grounds, but were now littered with people, which explained why he didn't notice it earlier.

Not everything seemed to be in top condition, Harry noticed after that. Whereas some stages looked to be high-tech and new, others seemed to be dirty platforms - for example. These variations in facilities didn't stop at the stages. He saw it in every one of them. It didn't put a damper on his awe however.

A ball snapped him out of his observations this time. It hit him in the head right behind his ear.

"Oi!" Ron called him. "What are you staring at? Game's beginning!"

"Hold on, I'm coming!" Harry replied, rubbing the place where the ball had hit him.

The boys joined one of the already playing group of teens. Five minutes passed, and already he was desperately trying to act as if he knew what he was supposed to do, or what was going on. And failing horribly too.

He knew the rules of the game well enough, but strategy was too complicated for him to catch up on in five minutes.

To him it made sense to defend by standing in between the ball and the attacker, but to everyone else it was obvious that you defend by standing in between the goal and the attacker. Where was the sense in that?

And sometimes someone would shout at him to move forwards or back. What did they mean by that?

After another five minutes he finally managed to touch the ball, because someone of the team passed it to him, but it was snatched away by the opposing team almost instantly, because he wasn't able to handle the ball like his teammates.

That's when Neville caught up to him.

"Harry, do you even know what you're doing?" He asked, not unkindly.

He felt his face growing hot. "Is it that obvious?"

Neville laughed. "If you want to stop, I know what we could do?"

He nodded at the half-question half-statement.

Neville jogged away to inform someone of his team that they would be quitting. The person nodded and Neville jogged back to Harry to then lead him to one of the walls which wasn't covered in graffiti, but normal paint.

"Have you ever painted?" Neville asked when they arrived.

"Not since primary school finger painting, if that even counts." He replied while staring at the wall.

It appeared they had really talented artists in the school. His eyes drifted over the colours and shapes. Some paintings were abstract while others were startlingly realistic. You could see that every one of them was made by a different person, all of them having added their personal style to it. All of the different themes blended into one big masterpiece.

"I think most of these are made by Hufflepuffs." Neville sighed, also looking at the wall.

"What's wrong with that?" He asked.

"Wrong? Oh nothing, that's not what I meant." Neville laughed awkwardly and turned his back to Harry in order to take out art supplies that were lying around, provided by the school.

Harry frowned in confusion, but shrugged it off as Neville handed him a brush.

He didn't actually do anything with it, instead walking around the maze of graffiti and painting walls. It was fun to watch and he really didn't want to mess it up by adding one of his own paintings to it. He wasn't lying when he said he had only ever finger painted in primary school.

After an hour he walked back to where Neville had been painting. Perfect timing, as his dorm mate was halfway through cleaning up the supplies.

Harry turned to where the new painting was and his mouth opened instantaneously. The boy had painted a portrait of Harry. With a lot of detail as well. From his raven black hair and round glasses to the familiar lightning-bolt scar on his forehead, the freckles on his nose and the shy smile and expression in his eyes.

"You painted this from memory?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, mostly." Neville replied.

"Wow, Neville." He said. He tried to add more but he didn't know what to say. "Just... wow."

The boy said a humble "Thank you." smiling shyly in return.

o0o0o0o0o0o

"Hey, I thought we were heading to dinner?" Dean said puzzled, when the Gryffindor duo had rejoined the rest of their dorm mates and were walking past the cafeteria.

"No, we're heading to the auditorium first. Sorting ceremony is going to happen there." Seamus answered him.

Harry could already see that those two were becoming good friends, the relationship probably being planted when Dean found out Seamus was just as big of a football fan as him.

"Technically, not much happens. We just wait until our name's called and then we get onto the stage to receive our house ties." Seamus continued.

"Why didn't we just receive it with the rest of our uniform?" Dean asked.

"Tradition mostly." Ron shrugged, when Seamus failed to answer.

In the auditorium, Harry took a seat between Neville and Ron. They waited for all of the Hogwarts student body to fill in the auditorium, which it was large enough for to Harry's surprise.

Although, he probably shouldn't have been surprised. The inside of the school was just as impressive as the outside. One room would be full of 19th century architecture like the outside of the school while the next room you walked into would be fully modern or a mix between those, which was strange but worked -most of the time.

The auditorium itself was a perfect example of the 19th century architecture. The student body (which counted to more than a thousand) was seated in comfortable red chairs which were spread out in rows. Pillars supported layers of balconies filled with more rows of chairs, but void of any people -unlike those on the main ground, where pupils were loudly goofing around or fighting over seats. The rows of chairs were raised higher the further back to allow the people farthest from the stage to see it.

The roof was dented into a dome, and decorated with paintings of which he could only see the blurred colours and shapes mixing into each other; the roof being too high up for him to see further detail.

The stage itself was a large ordinary black square in the front of the room, raised above the chairs on the ground floor. The back wall connected to the stage was a large black square of curtain used so people could move to different sides without being noticed by the observers.

The only things modern were the stage lights, sound speakers placed in various places across the room and a microphone attached to a lecture stand at the left side of the stage.

"When I call your name, you come up to the stage to receive your house tie." He recognised Mrs. McGonagall say into the microphone, once everyone was seated and silent.

A long list of freshmen names followed, each of which shook all the teachers' hands before retrieving their tie and sitting back down. It was a long, pointless procedure in Harry's opinion but to all his room mates' - except for Dean- it seemed to be a really important tradition. He tried understanding why, until it started to give him a headache.

"Potter, Harry!" Mrs. McGonagall finally called out.

He walked up to the stage and started shaking all the teachers' hand, making him feel uncomfortable. Partly because all of the attention directed towards him, but also because, again, it seemed they all looked at him in a really strange way.

Or it was his imagination. Probably the latter, he was really hungry after all.

After what felt like ages, the last name was called up. His stomach was now grumbling loudly and his boredom was coming to a climax. He, and most of the other freshmen, had to hold back a groan when headmaster Dumbledore stepped forward.

"Welcome all freshmen, and welcome back everyone else to another magical year of Hogwarts High!" Said Dumbledore, "Before we head to the cafeteria for a lovely start of term feast, I'd like to start with some basic rules - although some older students might do well to hear them again as well." Ron snickered, glancing at two identical redheads which, Harry assumed, were his two prankster brothers he'd referenced to in the dorms.

A few rules were told by Dumbledore, for which he really didn't have the attention span to focus on anymore.

Only when the headmaster said: "I would also like to announce that we are very excited to announce the award-winning Mr. Gilderoy Lockhart is joining our staff this year!" Did he snap back to attention, as suddenly a lot of yelling and clapping erupted from the student body.

"What's going on?" Dean, who had been half asleep, exclaimed.

"That's Gilderoy Lockhart!" Ron yelled above the noise. Dean looked to where Ron was pointing on the stage.

"So?" Said Dean when the noise quieted down.

"Lockhart is the most famous writer that has ever come from Hogwarts. He wrote dozens of award-winning books." Harry heard Seamus explain.

He looked back at the blonde writer who, shockingly enough, was looking directly back at him. It made him feel just that much more uncomfortable than usual and he quickly looked down at his hands.

He sat staring at his hands and holding his breath for only a few seconds, but it felt much longer to Harry. Thankfully the feeling of a set of eyes on him passed, and he dared to look back at the stage, where Mr. Lockhart was standing in line with the teachers again, his eyes on Dumbledore. Harry exhaled.

At last, the ceremony ended and everyone made their way to the cafeteria for dinner. The walk in itself might take about fifteen minutes for most people, but the chaos of moving a large crowd of teenagers made it last at least twice as long. His stomach was not thinking kindly about the sorting ceremony.

He noticed he wasn't the only one, when all the boys immediately started attacking the food already placed on the table. The girls having a bit more self control, looked on with various levels of disgust on their faces, before they too gave in, and started attacking the food one by one.

Harry shook his head. He honestly didn't get the sorting ceremony.

**A/N: Yaaay another update on time, and a normal length for once! Don't expect that to happen too often though... :) **

**I'm a slow writer and school's starting again :( **

**In fact, I had my first school day today, which is awesome 'cause it's also first Hogwarts school day!**

**Hmmm, yeah don't really have anything interesting to say anymore.**

**Next chapter will be uploaded on Monday the 8th of September (my brother's b-day!) and shall be titled: Dinner Time**

**Happy new school year everybody!**

**TRIS**


	4. Chapter 4

**Dinner time**

When the pupils of Hogwarts started feeling a bit more satiated, the sound of chatter grew louder, and the sound of clattering cutlery and plates started growing softer. This was no different at the table of Harry, Ron, Dean, Seamus and Neville.

"So which programs do the other houses follow?" Dean asked a question once again.

"Ravenclaw follows the advanced educational - aka intellectual program, Hufflepuff the arts program and Slytherin the technological program." His Irish friend answered.

Harry had made it a bit of a habit to listen in on the duo's conversations, or rather Dean's, because the boy asked so many useful questions.

"What about clubs and teams. Are there any good ones here?"

"The most popular would be the cross-country team. Around ninety-nine percent of it would consist of Gryffindors, as they're the fastest and strongest quarter of the school. They end up first place in about every tournament they decide to win."

"The football team is doing well too. If they don't end up first they end up second or third." Ron added.

"As well as the field-hockey team and the martial arts club. Swimming team comes close after that. The tennis club after that. The lacrosse team is average. The cricket team and the volleyball team are the worst of the school, and even they manage to get a prize every now and then." Neville recited as if committed to memory for quite some time.

"And the other non-athletic clubs?"

"Only a very small amount of Gryffindors ever join those. From the dubbed "Hufflepuff clubs" the best is the glee club, they've won nationals for 6 years in a row. A few other popular ones are the graffiti club and the performing arts club. Then there are a few school bands founded by students every year and a school musical." Neville continued going on about the "Ravenclaw clubs" and the "Slytherin clubs", while the others started tuning out until the subject changed again.

"Okay, I don't get it." Dean said out of nowhere, stabbing his food with his fork before releasing his cutlery and looking around at his dorm mates.

"What?" Seamus looked puzzled.

"How come I'm the only one asking questions around here? I'm starting to feel stupid." Dean pouted, making Seamus laugh. Harry noticed a small blush form on his Irish dorm mate's cheeks, barely noticeable but still there. He had no clue what that was supposed to mean, but decided to leave it.

"All our parents went to Hogwarts. It's very common in the school."

"Why's that?"

"Mostly because if your parents went here, you usually get a guaranteed spot, as long as you have a few basic requirements for the particular program you're going to take. Apart from that, your parents can teach or train you from a younger age of course. It's much harder getting in when none of your parents went. Not many make it."

"Oh no." Ron groaned suddenly.

"What's wrong?"

"Malfoy. Don't look now but he's coming to our table."

Harry turned around to see a blonde Slytherin stalking over to their table, his stony grey eyes fixed on only Harry, making him squirm.

"Hello, I'm Malfoy." The blonde said plainly arrogant, "Draco Malfoy."

No one replied.

Malfoy didn't seem bothered and instead asked: "You're Harry Potter, right? Son of Lily and James Potter?"

"Uhm me? yes- I'm Potter- Lily and James." Harry stuttered dumbly. He didn't care though, his brain was going miles a minute. How did a boy he'd never spoken to before know his parents?!

Malfoy smirked and offered a hand. "I want to offer you my acquaintances. Sooner or later you'll find out that some families are better than others. You don't want to be hanging around with the wrong sort now do you?"

Harry cast a glance at the others. Neville was looking like he would love to run away, Ron was looking like he'd punch the blonde in the face, Seamus looked like a mix of those and Dean looked just utterly confused.

The wrong sort? He was kidding right? The blonde oddly reminded him of Dudley. Obviously not in appearance or in brain capacity -Dudley was too dumb and fat- but they both seemed to love belittling others.

Taking a nervous breath he said: "I think I can make out the wrong sort myself, thanks." and turned back to his dorm mates.

A few seconds he sat tensely, terrified of what Malfoy would do. But then he could hear his footsteps which then slowly blended into the chatter until he couldn't hear them anymore. He sagged in relief.

"That was bloody brilliant!" Ron exclaimed the first.

A few praises followed but he cut them off. "What does he know about my parents?"

"What he knows about your parents? What everybody knows, Harry." Ron said.

"Well what does everybody know?"

Everybody stared. Except for Dean who was still trying to make sense of the situation.

"Just the things that are known to the public... I mean, everybody in Hogwarts knows about it because of our parents." Ron glanced around uncertainly.

"What does everybody know about my parents? What is there to know about them? Why does everybody here know about them?!" Harry was growing frustrated and everybody at the table sensed it.

"You mean... You don't know?" Neville asked carefully.

"Know what?!"

"Did you know they both went to Hogwarts? They were both in Gryffindor too..." Seamus piped up, sharing a meaningful glance with Ron and Neville.

"They- No, I didn't." Harry's frustration subsided a bit and the three other boys sighed in relief.

"Well er- they were head boy and girl in senior year. Your mom won quite a few prizes in various subjects. Your dad was the star athlete here. Everyone knows about how they died when you were still a baby. Er- how did they die again?" Ron asked. It wasn't out of curiosity though. It was something else, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"A car crash..." He replied eventually.

Ron looked pleadingly at Seamus.

"Oh look, they're heading up to the dorms. I'm spent so er... See ya!" Seamus stood up and left.

"Yeah I'm tired too, we'll talk about this later." Ron followed.

"Sorry Harry, I really want to get a good start in school tomorrow." And Neville left with an apologetic half-smile.

"I don't get it." Dean repeated.

oOoOoOoOoOo

_"How does he not know about his parents and the Death Eaters? How can he not know how his parents died?! That they went to school here? How can he not know anything?!" Ron exclaimed in anger, while the trio were rushing up to the Gryffindor dorms._

_"Ron, calm down! We don't know any more than you do! What are we going to do?!" Seamus snapped back._

_"We can't tell him." Ron said._

_"Why not?" Neville asked him._

_"Because!"_

_Neville raised an eyebrow._

_"It just doesn't feel right to be the people to tell him. We barely know him a day! This is pretty personal stuff, maybe his relatives didn't tell him for a reason..." _

_"Perhaps..."_

_Silence._

_"So do we tell him?"_

_The boys looked at each other for a moment._

_"No."_

**AN: Sorry for the super-duper-ultra late update. My computer was dead for a week and after that I really didn't have any motivation to update. SORRYYY! I still don't have much motivation to continue this story. I will be posting the rest of what I have which is up to chapter 16 or 17, so unless I don't find any motivation this story will probably be discontinued then.**

**xxTRISxx**


	5. Chapter 5

**First day**

The first day of school was, so far, one of the most hectic days in his life.

He'd nearly pulled an all-nighter, by feverishly looking through the papers Mrs. McGonagall had given to him at the reception. It worked to get his mind of dinner's proceedings.

The first few pages were specifically addressed to him and the other Gryffindor freshmen: a welcoming letter to Gryffindor, his week schedule, an explanation to how things worked in their house.

The rest were standard things all first years were told: school rules, a basic map of the school, the tryout dates to different clubs and teams, an explanation to the points system.

He was happy that he'd decided to read through it, until he found himself falling asleep at 7:30, only to be woken by Ron at 8:15, who informed him lessons were starting in 15 minutes.

On top of that, he found out in the most unfortunate situation, that his skills in map reading were terribly lacking.

In other words, he got lost and stumbled into various wrong classrooms (which resulted in a few awkward moments) before he stumbled into his French class -taught by Mrs. McGonagall- at 8:45. Fifteen minutes too late.

She wasn't very pleased, but he did get away without punishment ("Only because it's the first day." but, Harry suspected, also because she didn't want to take any points from her own house in the first lesson of the year).

The lesson itself wasn't all too pleasant either. At his former school, French was one of his best subjects, along with German, English and Physics. His first lesson at Hogwarts was enough to make his already small amount of self-confidence shatter into a million different pieces and leave his mind jumbled and confused.

After an hour of challenging French grammar, it was time for history. The teacher, Mr. Binns, was without a doubt the most boring teacher he'd ever had. He was the first teacher who successfully managed to get him to fall asleep during a lesson. Although he didn't really mind after the sleepless night. And it's not like anybody else was paying attention to the lesson. He even spotted a few others falling asleep before him.

Too soon, his nap ended and he found himself sitting in Physics, which wasn't really bad actually.

If he hadn't forgotten all his books.

Mr. Flitwick had merely fixed him with an amused glare, only giving a warning. He seemed to bend the rules faster than Mrs. McGonagall.

Harry shared books with his neighbour -Ron- and found he could actually keep up with the lesson. At least he wasn't a complete failure then.

Lunch had been the only moment of wakeful rest. He was finally able to breath and fill his grumbling stomach - because he had overslept he'd missed breakfast. The sandwich was very much appreciated, not only to his stomach, but also to everyone who had to hear his stomach rumbling the past hour.

But of course, when he finally found himself beginning to relax, his peace was rudely disrupted as he was dragged to his next lesson: Economics.

Economics was confusing. Even more than French.

Mrs. Burbage seemed a kind enough woman, but Harry was questioning if she actually knew what she was talking about.

But then again, Harry didn't know anything about economics, and Mrs. Burbage was a teacher. Surely she knew what she was talking about. Surely...

A bell rang loudly and lots of shuffling and talking immediately followed. Harry could have screamed his thanks to nobody in particular that his last lesson of the day was over.

"Do you have your training uniform with you or do we have to walk back to the dorms first?" Ron, who he'd ended up sitting next to in every lesson that day, asked.

"I left it in the dorms in my hurry." He mumbled loud enough for the redhead to hear.

"Well I think I forgot my training shoes, so we can walk together." The boy said cheerfully.

Ron was a chatter. He couldn't seem to stop talking all the way to the dorms. He tried engaging Harry into the conversation too, but after a few unsuccessful attempts he simply continued talking about himself or things that interested him.

Unlike Malfoy, Ron didn't seem arrogant or self absorbed though. He just seemed the type that couldn't stand silent companionship, which Harry mostly engaged in. It could have something to do with Ron's family. In a house with so many siblings there probably wasn't much quiet.

Ron ended up talking the whole thirty minute break. He didn't know how the taller boy managed to do it, but he did.

And he thought Hermione talked much.

Although, she could probably go on longer than Ron. He wondered amusedly how a conversation between the two would end up.

The bespectacled boy propped his normal uniform in his new locker after changing into his training uniform, which were black football shorts and a red shirt with yellow letters spelling HOGWARTS in capital letters and gryffindor in smaller letters underneath printed on the back. It were probably the most comfortable clothes he had.

Together with Ron, he walked to the outer sports fields they would make use of for the remainder of the warm weather.

Neville soon joined them on the field, where Ron was trying to explain football strategy to Harry while practicing passing the ball. It took a while before a quarter of the school emerged out of the locker rooms in red and black uniforms, giving the trio some time to practice.

Eventually teens stopped coming through the doors and a loud whistle was heard.

The effect was instantaneous. Kids started gathering around the source of the whistle, which was a woman with grey hair and yellow eyes.

Harry, Ron and Neville joined the crowd of lower years, the upper years already having disappeared to various other sport fields earlier on. In no time everybody was silent and paying attention to the trainer. Quite different from his former PE lessons.

"Good afternoon everyone! Sophomores start warming up and in fifteen minutes I want to see you all testing!" She blew the whistle again and half the crowd instantly moved away.

"For the rest of you, I'm Mrs. Hooch, or just coach. I'll be giving you training until you're juniors. From then on you'll be getting lessons in smaller groups and from other trainers. We wasted quite some time in the locker rooms today. From now on anybody out of the locker rooms five minutes after the bell can stay for an hour of extra training." She said the last part, looking pointedly at the girls. Some giggled in return.

"We'll spend the first week on testing physical capabilities and the Saturday morning training will be replaced by a physical check up by our nurse Mrs. Pomfrey. During this process we'll be teaching you how to make your own training schedules and how to properly train your body when I'm not around. On top of that you're all going to follow a healthy diet, and some of you might be getting an altered diet because of the results of the check up. Enough talk. This training will be going over how to make a proper warm-up and cooling down routine."

They first had to jog a few rounds around the football field.

Immediately a few boys stared racing each other, Ron was amongst them. Of course they were the ones already spent after those few rounds.

After that the coach had them stand in a circle and she demonstrated a few exercises which the class mimicked, while she explained to them what the exercises served for while also explaining to them why it was so important to warm up, and how disastrous it was if they skipped it.

The warming up ended up taking up most of the remaining lesson. The other part she started going on about the cooling down and showing them different stretches and cooling down exercises.

Once again the bell rang, the sound distant and echoing onto the fields. Relieved, the Gryffindors fled the field.

Harry, like most, was already tired after one and a half hours of warming up and cooling down. He didn't dare to imagine what the full two hours of actual training would be like.

Ron was worse off than him though. Giving his utmost in the first few rounds, the rest of training was probably unbearable to him. All the more reason for him to complain though, it seemed.

Harry noticed during break that Ron tended to complain. It was easily how he filled up at least half of the break.

Neville seemed to be about as bad off as Ron, which was actually surprising since the boy didn't seem to be racing against the others. He hadn't seemed excited about the training either, while Ron was blabbing non-stop about it when not complaining. The shorter boy just didn't seem... very Gryffindor.

Dean ran into the locker rooms like a caffeinated puppy. He then proceeded to run through the showers all the while shouting and singing on the top of his lungs. The boy seriously had endless amounts of energy.

Seamus seemed to be the only person that was a normal level of exhausted amongst the boys in their dorm. He was sweating, but not as profusely as Ron or Neville. He was still walking, talking and moving around as energetic as ever, but not as over the top as Dean.

Focusing back on his own fatigue, he hastily moved into the shower with his shorts still on, which everyone seemed to be doing. The warm water soothed his muscles a bit and after ten minutes of soaking he felt refreshed again. Only a bit tired and the stress caused by his first four lessons mostly gone.

The time before dinner was spent doing homework. It wasn't exactly a set time to study but everyone seemed to be making their homework or working in study groups. Harry and Neville ended up at the same table in the common room, and quickly the found themselves discussing and making homework together.

Neville had been a huge help with French and in return he helped with physics. Both hadn't been awake during history, but they managed from the textbook and their own knowledge on the subject. Both had been completely lost when it came to economics however. Luckily, Ron had finally decided to start his homework because no one else wanted to join him in procrastinating. The redhead seated himself next to Harry and started explaining the whole economics lesson to the pair. They managed to complete half of their homework in the hour and completed the rest after dinner. By the time everything was done, Harry was ready to go to bed.

Tiredly, he said goodbye to the other boys who weren't as exhausted as him, and after quickly changing and brushing his teeth, he flung himself onto his bed. He blacked out before his head even met the pillow.

**AN: Wow I am soooo sorry about the long wait :S Don't really have an excuse...**

**SORRRRYYYYY**


	6. Chapter 6

**First week**

The following days were equally busy as the first, but more bearable with a sufficient amount of sleep. He continued sitting next to Ron each lesson. The redhead still talked a lot, but knew when to shut his mouth during a lesson. Mostly. Overall, he liked the boy even if he wasn't used to talking much. He was loud, talkative and dragged him along to any social settings he could find which resulted in him becoming more comfortable around people than ever.

Sometimes it did start to become too much for him though, but when that happened he found his escape either in the library or with Neville. The boy was quiet, like him, and they could sit in silence for hours on end (not like he had the time to do that).

On Tuesday morning he had Mrs. McGonagall for first period again, who was this time teaching German. German was just as advanced as French was, but still he struggled more in German than in French.

Math was taught by Mrs. Vector. The lesson was understandable and clear, but Math never really interested him much.

Geography with Mrs. Sprout was mostly the same as was Biology with Mr. Hagrid, who was very friendly despite his wild looks.

His first English lesson was on Wednesday and his second on Friday. It had been, for the lack of a better word, uncomfortable. It wasn't anything specific that made him feel that way either. The teacher was very self-absorbed, in Harry's opinion. He didn't get why all the girls were so smitten by him either.

He'd started the lesson by giving a pop quiz which contained 150 questions about himself. Things which were apparently found in his autobiography, which wasn't even a required school book.

On top of that, the teacher always seemed to be looking at him. He hadn't caught the man in the act yet, but in his lesson he could always feel a pair of eyes on him. He had every lesson with the Gryffindors, so he doubted it were any of his classmates that felt like staring at him in English, specifically.

Despite that, the only subject he actually dreaded going to, was Chemistry. It was nothing against the subject itself. It was the teacher: Mr. Snape.

He didn't know what he'd done to deserve the treatment Mr. Snape had given him, but it must have been pretty bad for him to act like this. He began with quizzing him on various chemistry facts, of which he knew none. He then proceeded to humiliate him about his lack of knowledge and other things. In the end he practically called him a failure for breathing.

After half an hour, the man was written down on his "People worse than Dudley" list and after an hour he was listed under "People as bad as uncle Vernon".

Now he thought about it, the situation was uncle Vernon all over again. He'd hoped he had escaped that at last, of course. But in the end, it had been too good to be true, he should have seen it coming. And he only had to tolerate the man two hours a week. That was a huge improvement. He shouldn't complain.

Despite it being the first week, the teachers had no problem with assigning an endless amount of homework. Even though he started the assignments the day they were given, he found the homework piling up.

Training was as torturous as he thought it would be, but ten times worse. After the first lesson, they were responsible for their own warming ups which were to last fifteen minutes.

The school provided them with equipment that would measure their endurance, strength, flexibility and agility. Coach assigned them all to a partner and they took turns doing the exercises or writing down the other's statistics.

Tuesday was his best day so far. Tuesday was endurance. Compared to the other freshmen, he wasn't very strong and only averagely flexible or agile. But he excelled in endurance.

That didn't mean though, that he wasn't sore the day after. His whole body had hurt terribly, and he wasn't the only one. Even Dean was less energetic that day.

Another thing he noticed at one point, was Hermione. She hadn't been in any of his lessons so far, so he assumed she wasn't in Gryffindor. He had seen her in the hallways once or twice, and had he been more observant he would have found it interesting that she was wearing a red and yellow tie. It only really occurred to him when he saw her doing jumping jacks amongst the other girls on Wednesday afternoon, during warm up. He still didn't know why she wasn't in their class during lessons.

At last Saturday came around. One of the things that made Hogwarts different from other boarding schools, is that their program continued on Saturdays. Normally, the Gryffindors would be starting their warm up at 9:30, but since coach wanted them to get a check-up on Saturday morning, the Gryffindor freshmen instead found themselves making their way to the hospital-wing.

They only had one nurse in the school, so it took a while before all of them were tested, evaluated, informed and then dismissed with their new diets. Neville was embarrassed by his diet plan, since he was the only one of the boys that had to lose weight. Ron received the standard diet plan, but still hadn't been pleased. He complained about having to limit the amount of candy he ate amongst other things.

Harry, on the other hand, had to eat more. He was underweight and nearly malnourished, but not enough in order for her to start questioning him. It also turned out that his glasses weren't a good match with his eyes anymore, so next weekend he had to come back to the hospital-wing to pick up his new glasses, which were luckily provided by the school.

By the time everyone was dismissed, it was lunch time again. It was quieter at their table than normal, everyone being focused on their food. Or rather, the food they weren't allowed to eat anymore.

The last two hours of training that afternoon were spent discussing everyone's test evaluations. Two of the girls had the highest marks in flexibility and agility, while Seamus had the highest marks in strength and Dean and Harry shared the highest marks in endurance. The coach had given a lecture about how to make a proper training schedule based on the test evaluations, and thankfully refrained from putting them through any physical strain that day.

At last, it was time for some well deserved rest.

**AN: Two in two days, must be a record ;)**

**XXTRISXX**


	7. Chapter 7

Life at Hogwarts settled into a routine after the first week. He would wake up at 7:30, go to class, train, do homework, eat dinner, do homework, sleep.

On the rare occasion that he had some free time during the week, he would explore the school a bit, play chess with Ron or sit with Neville.

Saturday was full with training and homework he hadn't had the chance to complete yet.

Sunday was the day he got to relax.

He did get his new glasses the weekend after check-ups. It was the same model as his first, but this one was still in one piece and had the proper lenses.

The first time he put them on had been a wonderful moment. His former glasses had been given to him when he was 8 years old, meaning that he was used to the edges being blurry and not being able to see what was written on the board at the front of the class. Being able to see with so much detail was wonderful.

Even now he still found himself staring at things that he was never able to see like this before. Especially the school and the forest could hold his gaze for long periods of time.

Classes continued much in the same way they started. English stayed uncomfortable, chemistry terrible and French, German and economics confusing.

In training they continued building a certain amount of flexibility, agility, strength and endurance before they would start with their first unit - cricket.

It was the beginning of October on a Sunday afternoon, and Harry was taking a walk through the massive building once again. His eyes scanning his surroundings through this new glasses. These walks served for three things: To relax, to get to know the school and to feel closer to his parents.

Ever since Ron revealed to him that his parents went to Hogwarts he could feel traces of his parents everywhere. He imagined them walking down the hallways he was walking, training on the same sport fields he was, eating in the same cafeteria.

He interrogated his friends further about his parents the first time he had the chance. Ron and Seamus kept talking about various accomplishments the pair had achieved in their time at Hogwarts, while Neville revealed that they became, like a lot of graduated Gryffindors, cops after their Hogwarts years.

The last boy also told him that their parents went through police training together, and that they were even friends at one point. Harry asked him if he could write to the boy's parents, but for some reason Neville said that wasn't an option.

Thinking it had something to do with why he lived with his grandmother, Harry didn't question it.

He hadn't been late since that first day, and he could get to all the main parts of the building without getting lost now. Still there was a lot to explore and the shortcuts he stumbled across were a bonus too.

In the third week he'd come across a staircase that would get them from the Gryffindor common room, at the top west of the school, to the outdoor and indoor sport fields, at the lower west of the school, cutting down their travel time to five minutes.

It also turned out that these shortcuts weren't a big secret amongst the returning pupils, which explained why they saw so little older Gryffindors in the main hallways after break.

He was leisurely walking down one of the lesser known hallways at the opposite side of the school, observing the rainy view through the windows, when he heard someone crying.

It sounded like a girl.

Turning his gaze back to the hallway he recognized the row of classrooms the Ravenclaws used for extra lessons while the Gryffindors were training. No one else was around this part of the school on a Sunday evening, making the sobs echo eerily.

Frowning, Harry walked further down the hallway, the sounds of crying growing louder with every step he took.

Eventually he came to a halt in front of the only unused classroom in the hallway, which was often used for extra tutoring or "Ravenclaw clubs" like the mathletes and the debate team.

He stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do. What was he going to do if he went in there anyways? Maybe the person went here especially because she wanted to be alone.

Time ticked by slowly.

The sobs continued.

He didn't know what convinced him in the end, but nonetheless, he silently opened the door.

Walking in the room, he located someone in the back corner. She was curled up into a ball, crying into her knees. Arms around her legs as if to hold herself.

Harry recognized that position all too well. It was the position he curled into in the middle of the night when locked up in his cupboard. Those moments when loneliness imprisoned him and everything became too much and too hard. When he need to hold himself together, because no one else was there to do it for him.

It were those moments he always begged for his parents. Begged them to hold him, to take them away from there. Even though he knew they couldn't hear him.

When he looked back at the girl, her brown curls were draped all around her, blocking her face from view. He knew those curls though.

"Hermione?" Harry made his presence know, while closing the door behind him.

The girl snapped her head up to face him. Her eyes were red and puffy and some stray tears still made their way down her cheeks, though the sobbing had stopped the second he said her name.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked concerned, slowly making his way towards her. He could have slapped himself at the stupid question. It was quite obvious she wasn't okay.

Hermione didn't answer, instead saying, "Hey, Harry." in a shaky voice. She seemed far past the point of caring that he found her like this.

He went to sit in front of her on the floor. "What's wrong?"

Tears were forming in her eyes again. "Everything." She croaked.

"Did something happen?" He asked when she didn't elaborate.

She stayed silent for a moment before nodding and then bursting into tears again.

Harry, who was at a loss of what else to do, moved to sit beside her and awkwardly put an arm around her shoulders. He wasn't the best when it came to physical contact, but Hermione seemed to need it. That was confirmed when he felt her lean into his side.

They didn't talk for a while, Hermione simply drawing comfort from the half-hug.

When the sobs subsided a little, the story spilled out of her.


End file.
